If it was easy to lose weight or to be skinny, the whole
world would be. There wouldn’t be a
supersized hamburger meal or potato chips with precisely the right flavor and
crunch factor. But that just isn’t the
case. There are sugary beverages and unhealthy meals at almost every social
event and on nearly every corner.
The choices we make determine how healthy we are or are not
and those choices compounded over time often lead to extra pounds. Those extra pounds often lead to high
cholesterol, high blood pressure and many other health challenges. Then, when we’ve finally had enough and want
to do something to change our habits, we often feel as though it’s too hard to
exercise because of the extra weight. But don’t worry, if I just described you,
you aren’t destined to be fat, there’s hope! And if you don’t believe me, read
on and learn about the stories of six individuals who are changing their lives
and becoming healthier.
It’s been a month since our Healthy Me! Program participants
began the process of meeting monthly with a physician from Family Medicine ofSouth Bend, P.C. and Erin Hurst, a Registered Dietician from Saint JosephRegional Medical Center. They’ve also
been working with Jonell Witkowski and Dave Woods twice a month at MemorialHealth & Lifestyle Center and they’ve each completed a round of lab tests
at The Medical Foundation. In addition,
several of them have had a consultation and x-rays completed with Dr. JeffreyMader, a dentist in South Bend. As you can see, they’ve been busy!
And in between all of these appointments, they’ve made a
commitment to themselves and to the program to do their best to become
healthier, which means eating healthier and working out on a regular basis.
Shaun Riffle just celebrated his 24th birthday and less than a week later, he learned that he had dropped 18 pounds during his first month in the program and now weighs 456 pounds. This isn’t his first attempt at fighting the battle of weight loss, he’s been trying since he was labeled as obese when he was about 7-years-old. Following his high school football days and graduation, Shaun signed up for Weight Watchers and lost 85 pounds. But after awhile, he stopped going to meetings and reverted to his old eating habits and gained back his 85 pounds plus many more.
Just as the Healthy Me! Program began, Shaun was working
with his physician to begin using a CPAP machine to help with his sleep
apnea. Not only does he have the
challenge of getting good sleep, but quantity of sleep is also a challenge
because he starts his day at 3:30am to work at Martin’s SuperMarkets.
Since meeting with Erin Hurst, the Registered Dietitian at
Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, he has tried to plan ahead and have
something ready for breakfast each morning, because he was going to work
without eating and then waiting too long until break to eat. Providing proper
nutrition for his body is important and something he is still trying to do
before he goes to work. One of Shaun’s biggest successes during his first month
was that he hasn’t really eaten potato chips! What used to be second hand
nature, digging into a bag of chips out of boredom, has now become
non-existent.
Shaun’s girlfriend noticed that he also eats a lot less when
they sit down to a dinner at the table rather than eating in front of the
television. Small changes in habits over time, make a huge difference!
In early April, Shaun went to The Medical Foundation to have
some lab work completed. While meeting
with Dr. John Jacobs from Family Medicine of South Bend, P.C. they reviewed the
results of the lab work and found that Shaun is very Vitamin D deficient. Normal reference ranges for Vitamin D are
between 30 and 80 ng/mL; however, Shaun only registered with a reference range
of 10 ng/mL. Currently, Dr. Jacobs
encouraged him to take approximately 800 mg of Vitamin D supplements daily to
bring his Vitamin D levels to an acceptable range.
If losing weight was easy, the whole world would be skinny.
We all know that losing weight, whether it is five pounds for some and two
hundred pounds for others, isn’t easy.
Shaun is making a number of small changes in his life and is off to a
great start to becoming healthier.
I’ll highlight the other five Healthy Me! Program participants
in the days to come. Please visit our blog tomorrow for an update on Erika
Jackson.
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